Apple A12 Bionic vs Samsung Exynos 980

Comparisons   11-03-2021
   So, which processor or chip is better? Detailed data of benchmarks and speed tests Apple A12 Bionic vs Samsung Exynos 980, comparison of GPUs Mali-G76 MP5 and Apple A12 Bionic.
   This performance comparison involves two processors: A12 Bionic is gexa-core (Vortex) and Exynos 980 is octa-core (Cortex-A77). Both processors went through battery life test and power consumption test. A step-by-step analysis of all the specifications, to make it easier to read, is summarized in the table.
   From the video comparison, you can get the results of parallel benchmarking in software tests like GFXBench, PassMark, WebXPRT 3, PCMark, Geekbench, Quadrant, Vellamo, Neocore, Octane V2, Mozilla Kraken, 3DMark, AnTuTu 8, and how good the processors are in games Real Racing 3, Call of Duty: Mobile, Garena Free Fire - The Cobra, Mortal Kombat, Minecraft Bedrock, PUBG, Sniper 3D, Fortnite etc.
   After reading the results these benchmarks and videos, you already be able to understand which chip is better to buy A12 Bionic or Exynos 980 and which chip is better for gaming: Asphalt 9, Madout2, CSR Racing 2, Need for Speed No Limits.

Summary benchmark results

As a percentage of the maximum value based on a sample from the entire base of all processors
CPU Benchmark
Based on Antutu and Geekbench score

A12 Bionic

30%

Exynos 980

17%

Battery life test
Power Consumption efficiency (how quickly the processor reduces the battery charge)

A12 Bionic

72%

Exynos 980

72%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

A12 Bionic

29%

Exynos 980

16%

Antutu v10, 9

Antutu benchmark separately tests the performance of the CPU, GPU, and memory speed

	A12 Bionic	Exynos 980
Total score	419987	236563
CPU	117593	66232
GPU	159589	89891
MEM	67188	37840
UX	75591	42582

GeekBench 6, 5.2

This benchmark shows Multi-threaded and Single-threaded processor performance

	A12 Bionic	Exynos 980
Single-Core	900	487
Multi-Core	2970	1951

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	A12 Bionic	Exynos 980
Frequency	2490 MHz	2200 MHz
Cores	6	8
Bit	64	64
Lithography	7 nm	8 nm
Transistors count	6900 millions
Core configuration	2x2.49GHz Vortex 4x1.6 GHz Tempest	2x2.2 GHz Cortex-A77 6x1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A55
Power consumption (TDP)	6 W	9 W
Memory type	LPDDR4X	LPDDR4
Max. Memory	12 Gb	8 Gb
Memory Frequency	2133	1866
Memory bandwidth	34.1
Neural Processor (NPU)	Yes	Yes
L1 cache	128 KB
L2 cache	8 MB
L3 cache
Instruction set architecture (ISA)	ARMv8.3-A	ARMv8.2-A

In this comparison block, you should pay attention to the differences in clock speed and the number of cores. Here A12 Bionic is 11% better than Exynos 980 in terms of CPU frequency. Another difference is that A12 Bionic has 2 more core than Exynos 980. Also keep in mind that high CPU frequency affects battery life through power consumption.

GPU and Media

GPU	Apple A12 Bionic	Mali-G76 MP5
GPU Frequency	2500 MHz	700 MHz
GFloPS	586	217
# of Cores	4	4
# of Shader Units
Display	2688 x 1242 pixels	3360 x 1440 pixels

The frequency of the GPU does not always directly indicate its performance. To fully evaluate all the capabilities of a graphics chip, you should take into account the number of Shader Units and Cores, as well as how many GFlops it has.

Gaming benchmark

Fortnite Mobile	27.4	27.8
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile)	54.2	30.9
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	56.3	56.9
Call of Duty: Mobile	40.9	37.7
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	45.3	23.4
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	74.5	35.1
Real Racing 3	84.5	71.1
Sniper 3D	107	108.1
Need for Speed No Limits	67.6	102.4
Mortal Kombat X	64.7	91
CSR Racing 2	78.8	68.3

The numbers in this table indicate the maximum FPS that was received on the device with the corresponding processor. Depending on the configuration of the gadget and graphics quality settings (Ultra, Medium, Normal), the results may differ quite significantly. We recommend that you better study the results of the Antutu v10, 9 and GeekBench 6, 5.2 becnmarks.

Cameras

Camera resolution	12 MP	108 MP
Dual Camera resolution	12 MP	20 MP
Image Signal Processor (ISP)	Apple ISP
Video Encoding FPS	960	120
Video Encoding resolution	4K (Ultra HD), 2K, FullHD	8K, 4K (Ultra HD), 2K, FullHD
Codec support	Dolby Vision, H.265 (HEVC), HDR10+, HLG, HDR10, H.264 (AVC), VP8, VP9	H.264, 10-bit H.265/HEVC, VP9

Networks and Navigation

Modem	Intel XMM 7560 LTE	5G NR Sub, LTE Cat.16 5CA/Cat.18 2CA
Download speed	1000 MBit/s.	2055 MBit/s.
Upload speed	350 MBit/s.	1280 MBit/s.
Navigation	Galileo, GLONASS, Beidou, GPS	GPS, Glonass, Beidou
NFC support	Yes	No
5G support	Yes	No

Result:
The number of parameters for which Apple A12 Bionic is better: 29
The number of parameters for which Samsung Exynos 980 is better: 12
You need to know that you should not blindly trust the software comparison of the table. You can watch benchmark video from beginning to end of parallel testing and hear what people think who really appreciated the capabilities of both CPUs A12 Bionic and Exynos 980, and also read the test results on the links under the article.

A12 Bionic SoC - all data

• Devices lists
• Benchmarks
• PUBG mobile
• Fortnite Mobile
• 3DMark
• GeekBench 6, 5 mobile
• Antutu v10

• A12 Bionic specs and review.

Exynos 980 SoC - all data

• Devices lists
• Benchmarks
• PUBG mobile
• Fortnite Mobile
• 3DMark
• Antutu v10
• GeekBench 6, 5 mobile

• Exynos 980 specs and review.